Ulu

Here's a bizarre photo... I took this of the old SF-Oakland bay bridge, from the deck of new bay bridge. They stopped disassembling the old bridge when PETA discovered 300 endangered cormorants nesting there. Efforts to lure them onto the new bridge instead have failed misrably. Tens of millions are being spent, but nothing has gone right. In addition they found that the contractor failed to grout about 300 galvanized anchor bolts on the main pylon. Water has infiltrated the cavities, and the bolts are starting to rust and crack. The dang things are 20 feet long, and almost impossible to remove without destroying the new bridge.

That's the older (and nicer) Buick version. Mine was new but it was like the one with the go-kart wheels on the back. More like a Dodge or IHC look to it, but I don't know if it modeled any real vehicle.

Old "NOS" belts which have shrunken and hardened over the years are usually no good either. I've got a few "brand new" belts which are 30 and 40 years old. Never used, and probably not worth using now.

Only $3 per car! We need that Checker with the 8 doors....

I had a Fire Fighter pedal car, with the chrome bell and the tiny white wooden ladders. It was given to another child when we moved from Washington to Arizona. I was 7 by then and onto a bicycle.

That wheel looks like it's cast metal of some sort? It's very nice.

I don't have a clue about this first engine. Top cover plate of a gearbox. Another old rusty shot of the engine. . . check out the bullgear.

I'm wondering if there are any fuel-proof plastics you could use in a 3d printer? It might be worth asking around.

I couldn't tell what a lot of this stuff was. It's all at the Casa de Fruita on highway 152. Many are donations to their display, and there's various old stationary machines too. Anyhow, I'm glad you like rust. There was a goodly supply of it.

I'm pretty sure you could run a P15 (gently) quite a ways without water in it. I drove a stock Cadillac 50 miles in the desert with no water in it at all. It blew a freeze plug behind the starter. I shoulda tried to stuff something back there to keep the water in, but I didn't care about that car (173,000 miles on it) so I just drove home. Gently...very gently home. It got a couple new freeze plugs, some Prestone, and an oil change; and I finally sold it with 208,000, and it still ran great, but leaked water from the radiator. That Caddy was the 368cid, which was a de-bored 427 AFAIK. Great engine...all smogged up though. Needed to breathe. I wanted to run it in the P-15 until I figured out how wide it was.

More from last year's vacation, old trucks, various catterpiggles, and one stout steering box!

More rusty reminders of the past... A LeRoi tractor, whom I though only made compressors... Maybe a GM truck? & That's the interior of the first white Dodge truck I posted. Ohhh..grilles of a bygone era of streamline deco art. Back of the white Dodge.

My wife will retire after next school year, but I'm still years from retirement here. Our house & property will be paid off in one more year, & I'll be 62 in 18 mos, so in theory I could retire soon. But we want the newbie engineers at work to be able to keep the company going. The senior engineers have all planned to put off retirement until we all feel it's "the right time" for them to fly solo. The confidence of our clients is all important, so that has to be there too. It might be about 2020 before I go on the 24/7/365 retirement vacation.

Continental Flatties? I've never seen under the hood of a flathead Checker.

I think that allows you to determine the size of a pipe, by measuring the thickness of the flanges. I think the leaves tell you if the gasket is compressed enough (go-no go gages)

Having a woman pay you to drive her around? Yes, I'm dreaming....

Chef Bruno would be all over you about the "coloration". I think it looks cool.

There was a white T&C convert in a showroom in Visalia CA, back when I bought my Plymouth in 1985. Way outta my price range!

Then why did it make me think of My Fare Lady?

Pretty sure this one was a Dodge. (DodgeBros?)

More of last year's vacation... Eldest granddaughter gets her first trout & first ride on the Nomad. Yours truly, at the helm of a rented boat. I think I just swallowed a mosquito in that photo.

More rust. Probably not Mopar related at all...

...well I did, but it was spent recycling heavy stuff. Anyhow, this is a photo of a rusty old Dodge (I believe,) from last year's vacation.

I love the Yellowstone bus photo!

GM as I recall.